According to a new survey conducted by White Horse, B2B marketers are keeping up with their B2C counterparts when it comes to adopting social media marketing tactics but complete acceptance is based on executive approval.
The new study, conducted in March 2010, B2B Goes Social: A White Horse Survey Report reveals that 86 percent of B2B marketers are using social media, compared to 82 percent of B2C marketers. However, the figures reveal a big difference between the degrees of engagement: 52 percent of B2C marketers are engaged in daily social media marketing, while only 32 percent of B2B marketers use the services on a daily basis.
The survey also revealed the use of specific tactics among both groups. “B2B marketers use podcasts and participate in third-party forums slightly more often than B2C, and they rely on mobile applications and user-generated content significantly more often.”
According to White Horse, the survey highlights the need for “better internal education tools for B2B marketers to prove the value of social media.”Among B2B marketers, 46 percent said perceived irrelevance as an obstacle to executive approval, compared to only 12 percent for B2C marketers.